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Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

November 21, 2011 by 12 Comments

Oh, I know. Thursday is Thanksgiving, but we DO have to eat between now and then, and I’m thinking we all need something simple and satisfying that does, most emphatically, not involve turkey. Add to that the fact that it’s seriously cold (at least where I am) and we need something comforting, too. Simple, satisfying, comforting. Is that a tall order for a weeknight meal?

I say no.

These are the moments where having a couple fast, inexpensive and light-on-labour meals in your repertoire makes life significantly easier.  A couple weeks ago, I hosted a Pampered Chef party. It was a fun hen party, all the gals were there and there were kitchen gadgets abounding. The representative passed out a recipe for a pasta dish involving bacon, tomatoes and linguine. After preparing and enjoying their version, I streamlined it and adapted it to turn it into a bonafide one-pot dish (my favourite weeknight go-to) and liked it even better.

…And then I had an idea. The method was handy -everything cooked in one dish- and the ingredients were almost always on hand. What if I could change it up just a bit, a little substitution here and there, and make something completely new?

This is when having a great working knowledge of how tastes go together and a willingness to play with your food comes into play. When you have a base method that works great (cooking the meat, saving fat, cooking onions and garlic in it, adding broth/vegetable, dry pasta and cooking, then thickening the sauce) and know what things go well together (Italian: tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, onion, hard cheese. Mexican: tomatoes, cilantro, chili peppers, melting cheese, cumin, lime. Asian: cilantro, lime, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onion, sesame oil.) you can start looking for similarities and experiment.

I tried it the following night swapping out bacon and adding in chorizo, out with the parsley and in with cilantro, out with the Italian style tomatoes and in with tomato puree, cumin, Mexican oregano, and a dried chili pepper, out with the Asiago and in with the Monterey Jack. Top the lot with more cilantro, candied jalapenos, sour cream and black olives and I had a Tex Mex Pasta Toss that used an identical method but created a completely different meal.

The results? As my sons say, “Happy Day!”

My kids and husband were in seventh heaven having pasta two nights in a row. Everyone loved the taste of both dishes.  I loved both the fact that it only took one pan to make the whole thing and that I had a framework for a customizable meal that could be based on what ingredients I had on hand and what part of the globe I wanted to visit that particular night.

Dinner doesn’t get much faster or more satisfying than this Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine. Full of great Italian flavours like garlic, tomato, crushed red pepper and herbs, this is done in well under an hour and easily customized to please even your pickiest eaters. If you, like I, have kids or eaters with texture issues simply finely grate your onions and garlic on a box grater and zap your tomatoes in the blender to yield a perfectly smooth, creamy sauce.

Add a loaf of crusty bread and a salad and you have a meal that is sure to make it into your regular rotation.

… Or will the Tex Mex version be your darling?

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Seriously friends, the goal of this post and tomorrow’s is to share the joy of playing with your food. When you have a recipe that seems no fail, it probably is! Mess around with it. Just substitute one ingredient at a time if it makes you nervous, but do try. A recipe is a guideline, not a law. Spend a little time thinking about the foods you like best and what you like best about them. Try tweaking other recipes so that they taste exactly the way you want them to taste. The kitchen is your canvas. Feed your passion!

 

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Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

Dinner doesn't get much faster or more satisfying than this Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine. Full of great Italian flavours like garlic, tomato, crushed red pepper and herbs, this is done in well under an hour and easily customized to please even your pickiest eaters. Add a loaf of crusty bread and a salad and you have a meal that is sure to make it into your regular rotation.

Inspired by The Pampered Chef

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bacon
  • 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced or pressed
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1 can (14-ish ounces) Italian style tomatoes (You can use diced, crushed or puree.) ~or~ 1 1/2 cups chopped, diced or crushed tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasonings, and 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic,
  • 5 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pound uncooked dry linguine
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese
  • 4 ounces (half of an 8 ounce brick) cream cheese or neufchatel cheese, cut into squares
    • Optional for garnish:
  • Minced fresh parsley
  • finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions

Cut the pound of bacon into 1/4-inch strips and scrape into a stockpot over medium heat, stirring to separate bacon strips. Cook until bacon is crisp, then use a slotted spoon to move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.

Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the pan and return the pan to the heat, dropping the temperature to low. Add the onion and garlic (and crushed red pepper flakes, if using!) and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and soft.

Pour in the chicken stock and tomatoes and half of the reserved bacon, then raise heat to medium high, bringing the mixture to a boil. When it is fully boiling, stir well, then add in the linguine noodles, using tongs to toss it until the noodles soften enough to be submerged. Add the lid, drop the heat to low again, cover tightly, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the noodles are al dente (cooked mostly through with just some resistance in the center when bit.) Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the grated cheese and the cubed cream or neufchatel cheese, cover again and let stand for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are up, toss the noodles in the sauce until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is thickened.

Serve the noodles garnished with the remaining bacon and the parsley and sun-dried tomatoes.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/21/creamy-tomato-and-bacon-linguine/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

September 2, 2011 by 55 Comments

Update with a correction: In the recipe, I accidentally forgot to include the whole jalapeno pepper that I simmered with the sauce. It will be good without it, but it’s great with it. I have modified the recipe to reflect the correction.

This plate of Chicken Tikka Masala (because that’s what it is) represents a giant victory sixteen years in the making. We are talking about a serious case of I-told-you-so mixed with a pretty solid  I-was-right-and-you-were-wrong combined with a decade long desire for Indian food thwarted by… my husband.

I love that man of mine -love him dearly, bigger than the bay and to the ends of the earth- but he has sworn up one wall and down the other for the duration of the time I have known him that he despises Indian food.  He has blamed heartburn from the curry (okay, I can buy that), muddy flavours (that I blame on just plain bad take-out food) and unattractive presentation (because my husband is -and I’ll bet you didn’t know this- Frank Bruni, New York Times Food Critic. I’m kidding. He’s Darth Vader. But anyway.)  Like I said, though, I loves ‘im… and you don’t deliberately serve food to your loved ones that will make them unhappy, right?

Then I got a good deal on some chicken thighs and I had a thought. I busted out two slow-cookers. In one, I decided, I would make chicken taco meat: easy, delicious, well-loved by the husband. In the other? I was going to be a wild woman, throw caution to the wind and not only make *GASP* Indian food, but I was going to make my own version of the classic Chicken Tikka Masala. When I live dangerously, whew, I do it up right*.

*Look. I have five kids. At the moment? This is living dangerously. Just go with me on it, please, so I don’t feel pathetic. Tell me I’m crazy. Now.

I browned the yogurt and spice marinated chicken thighs in a saute pan with butter then tossed it into the slow cooker. Next up, I browned the onions, garlic and ginger, and spices, deglazed with the sauce ingredients then scraped those (minus the cream, which was added at the end to prevent curdling) and let it go for a few hours while the taco chicken cooked in a separate cooker. Simmer, simmer, simmer; that’s what the dueling crockpots of chicken did.

When, after a few hours, I stirred the heavy cream into the saucy, fragrant chicken, I was thrilled. It was beautiful, it was delicious, it was done. I tasted it and was *this close* to weeping tears of joy.  It wasn’t even close to dinner time yet, but I had wanted to get a jump on the evening. There was no way I was going to wait another minute. I piled a giant amount of rice cooked with peas and butter onto the plate. I ladled an enormous amount of the Chicken Tikka Masala over it, and tossed an industrial-sized fistful of chopped cilantro over the top and snapped a picture.

Then I looked into the camera again to snap another. Something was a bit off…

“Hey guys?” I called as I turned around to find three of my sons and one of their friends standing silently at the ready. With forks. “Um, would you guys like to be my guinea pigs?”

They polished that plate off in short order.  They wanted more. My three boys (including one from the no-green-stuff crowd) and their buddy loved it. The buddy asked me to give the recipe to his mom.

That was one obstacle cleared with daylight between me and the hurdle. The big question, however,  remained. What would my Indian cuisine averse beloved think?

I put together the most exquisitely plated dish of Chicken Tikka Masala that I possibly could and stuffed it into his hands while he sat at his computer working on a program. My husband knows better than to question a plate of lovingly offered food whatever the hour may be and he dutifully laid into it.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it. I have taco meat going in another slow-cooker.” I disclaimed…

“Mmmm! Sgood!” he said.

“So, you like it?” I asked.

“Yeah! Sreallygood!” he said, mid-bite.

“So, you really like it??” I asked. And then he looked at me funny. Then he looked at the plate and then again at me and said,

“Yeah! Sreallygood. Thank you?”

And I’m sorry to say this, but I am fairly certain I smirked. I am an adult, but I am human. I got a hold of myself before I continued,

“Oh sure, honey. Eat up! If you’d like more, there’s plenty.” I walked away happy.

Victory. It tastes sweeter when defeat tastes great, too.

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours, 30 minutes

This classic Indian dish is sure to win over even the pickiest eaters with its creamy, rich, complex comfort food bona fides. This dinner is the perfect fall or winter warm-me-up and it reheats like a dream.

Ingredients

    For the chicken:
  • 9 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 4 tablespoons butter
    • For the sauce:
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large onion, peeled and diced
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 large piece of ginger (2-3 inches in size), peeled and grated
  • 3 tablespoons garam masala
  • 4 cups crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon raw sugar (or granulated white sugar)
  • 1 whole jalapeno, washed, stem removed and pierced several times with a sharp knife
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch or cleargel
    • To Serve:
  • Hot, buttered, cooked rice with peas (see recipe below)
    • Optional:
  • Cilantro

Instructions

Cut the boneless, skinless chicken thighs into 1- 1 1/2 inch pieces. Sprinkle the coriander, cumin and 1 teaspoon salt over the chicken, then stir in the yogurt until all the pieces are evenly coated. Cover lightly and let sit for 10 minutes before proceeding.

Melt 1 tablespoon the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Raise the heat to medium high and quickly brown about 1/4 of the chicken. Transfer browned chicken to the slow cooker as it is finished, using 1 tablespoon of butter per batch, and repeat until the chicken is all in the slow-cooker.

Return the pan to the heat and melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and the 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, then stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to lightly brown around the edges.

Stir in the garam masala and ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute) before raising the heat to high and adding the crushed tomatoes and raw sugar. Stir well, scraping the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil. Pour over the chicken in the slow-cooker and add the jalapeno pepper.

Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, or until the chicken is very tender.

Use a fork or whisk to stir the cornstarch or cleargel into the heavy cream until smooth. Pour into the slow-cooker and stir gently until the colour is even. Replace the lid and let cook for 10 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.

Serve over hot rice topped with a generous amount of chopped cilantro.

Try not to gloat.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/09/02/slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala/

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Buttery Rice and Peas

Buttery rice and peas is comfort food at it's easiest. If you want to serve this with Chicken Tikka Masala and make it most authentic, use white basmati rice. If basmati is not easily available, you can substitute another long-grain white rice so long as it is not quick cooking or instant.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups long grain white rice
  • 4 tablespoons of butter
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 cup frozen sweet peas

Instructions

To Cook in a Rice Cooker:

Add rice, butter and water to the rice cooker and program for the regular cycle. When it is complete, open the lid, stir in the peas, and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

To Cook on the Stove top:

In a mid-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, water, and rice and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water comes to the boil, cover the pot tightly, and drop the heat to low. Simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the rice looks fluffy. Fluff the rice with a spoon, stir in the frozen peas, and let sit, partially covered, for 10 minutes before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/09/02/slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, kid food, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker Tagged With: , ,

Spinach Bacon Cheddar Munchy Cakes

August 23, 2011 by 17 Comments

My name is Mrs. Bacon Onion Cheddar-Spinach, but you can call me Mrs. Spinach. I loved spinach so much that I married it.

Er, not really, but you get the point.

Spinach. Sigh. This is a bittersweet story. For years, I didn’t cook spinach as much as I’d like because my kids -most of ‘em anyway- didn’t really like it. I put it on pizza (well, one of the several pizzas I make whenever I make pizzas), made the occasional spanakopita, etc… but I’m the kind of person who could happily eat spinach nearly every day and here I was eating it once a week.

And then I went to Oklahoma. What does this have to do with spinach? Let me tell you.

My kids went to stay with a friend of mine who is nothing less than a living saint*. When I came home, one of the founding members of the “no-green-stuff-in-my-food” cabal approached me and asked, reverently, “Mama? Can you please ask Mrs. Danner for her quiche recipe? That was the best thing ever.” When I answered that I would and asked what kind of quiche it was, you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when he answered, “Spinach!”

*I think we’ll all agree that a woman who agrees to watch all five of my sons and my dog (ages five through thirteen) in addition to caring for her own four children, feeds them, goes for hikes to rivers with them, helps remove leeches from them (thereby providing dinner [and all other moments] conversations for the following month), lets them watch Doctor Who, delivers them home fully alive, and still speaks to me afterward is a living saint. I think her first miracle was getting my kids to eat spinach. That counts, right? Three cheers for Mrs. Casda Danner!

The brain, it boggled. Because honestly, his answer implied both a.) that he liked it and b.) that he was aware that he had actually eaten and liked spinach. I pursued the subject…

“Who ate the spinach quiche?” I asked. All but the baby. “And who liked it?” Again? All but the baby. Holy moly. The next day at the playground, I quizzed my friend about how she accomplished this great deed. Her answer, and I’m paraphrasing here, was that people try to serve spinach to kids all wrong. She told me, “Everyone serves it wilted with vinegar, ” [totally true on my part] “when what they should do is serve it with generous amounts of butter, cheese or cream.”

I told you she was a saint, but she not only is beatified, she’s brilliant.

And so.   While wasting incredible amounts of time researching on Pinterest, I stumbled upon a very tempting picture of broccoli cheese bites. “Self,” quoth I, “You ought to try something like that… but with spinach.” I channeled Casda, combined wild amounts of Cheddar cheese, spinach and bacon (because where Cheddar cheese is, bacon should be!) and inspired by the aforementioned broccoli cheese bites, I achieved spinach-to-children’s-mouth success.

These Spinach Bacon Cheddar Munchy Cakes (so dubbed by my eldest son after I struggled with what to call them) are packed with all the culinary joy that results when spinach, bacon, and Cheddar get together. It’s hard to believe something so satisfying can be thrown together so quickly. More good news? These little beauts are very inexpensive. Omit the bacon and you have a vegetarian friendly entree or hearty snack.

A batch of these disappeared at light speed. And guess who tried it? The baby! And guess who liked it? Everyone! Including the baby!

We all opted for sriracha to accompany our munchy cakes. This one is mine. See the ladylike, evenly placed hot sauce dots?

This? This one is my husband’s. No pretty dots for him. No-siree-bob. Man. Need. Much. Sriracha.

All I know is this; I probably won’t win any health food awards with this recipe and I don’t care. They’re just so tasty.

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Spinach Bacon Cheddar Munchy Cakes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

When bacon, Cheddar and spinach come together in these savoury snack cakes, smiles are inevitable. Even the pickiest eaters tucked into these with gusto!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove most of the liquid
  • 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I prefer extra sharp for this.)
  • 1 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs (seasoned or plain)
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/2 pound of bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
  • 3 tablespoons finely minced onion
  • 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder (I prefer Coleman's.)
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
    • Optional:
  • Hot sauce for serving

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°.

Line a baking sheet (or two, depending on size) with parchment paper.

Stir all ingredients together until even.

Scoop about 1/4-1/3 cup of the mixture (an amount about equal to the size of a plum) and form into a patty. Place patties on prepared pan.

Repeat until all of the mixture is formed into patties.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping the patties after about 15 minutes, until they are all golden brown and crisp on the outside.

Serve hot, warm or cool with your preferred hot sauce.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/08/23/spinach-bacon-cheddar-munchy-cakes/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast Foods, Eggs, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Fancy-Pants Bacon Jam, Spinach, Egg and Asiago Breakfast Pizza and a Giveaway!

August 16, 2011 by 84 Comments

Updated 8/19/11: Winner announced below the contest rules!

Sometimes you just know something is going to be good. Sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back. Today’s lunch was one of those moments.

While digging madly through the cupboards to find fast lunch ideas for my already starved* children, I realized I was out of bread, cheese, tortillas, apples, and all sorts of other things I rely on to fill their hollow legs quickly.

*Or so they said repeatedly and loudly while clinging to my legs.

Thankfully, a perusal of the refrigerator revealed a big bucket of my special no-knead semolina pizza dough and some leftover cooked spinach. Serendipitously, they were resting right next to a fresh jar of bacon jam and a dozen fresh eggs from our chickens. I knew I had the ingredients to make a great lunch but what I didn’t know was just how epic and satisfying that lunch would turn out to be.

I found that I was on auto-pilot setting when I noticed I automatically pre-heated my oven to four hundred and seventy five degrees without thinking after setting the bucket of dough on the counter*.

*That is the temperature at which I cook all of my pizzas, but this is the subject of an upcoming post. Oooh, spoilers! A tease and a Doctor Who reference all in one sidebar. I’m not proud.

Apparently I was making pizza for lunch. Well, why not? I decided to go with the auto-pilot. I rolled out the dough, spread on a little bacon jam and topped the jam with spinach that had been squeezed dry, topped it with a little grated asiago and slid it into the hot oven. Four minutes into cooking, I gently slide a cracked egg on top of the spinach. When the egg was set, I removed it from the oven…

…showered the top generously with more asiago and shook an indecent amount of hot sauce over the whole thing. I cut it in half, paused for a quick picture, admired the runny yolk, and there was a knock at the door.

Sigh.

Half an hour later, I was able to dig in. I can honestly tell you this tastes incredible at room temperature… I’m equally certain that it would taste most amazing hot, but at least I can tell you it’s better than just okay when cool.

The pizza crust has a crackling crisp underside due in part to the (hubba hubba) semolina flour in it. The insides are chewy. The upper crust takes on a deep golden brown and then we get to the bacon jam. Oh, bacon jam. Do you guys remember my bacon jam recipe? I didn’t think it was possible to love it more than I already did when I wrote that post but I was wrong. Every single way I’ve used it has made me love it better.*

*I guess maybe that one time I tried to use it as perfume didn’t work out really well… But everything else? Golden.

The salty, smoky, meaty, sweet, perfect umami bacony goodness that is bacon jam on pizza crust topped with spinach (hello, lover), an egg that I just took out of the coop this morning and a shower of finely grated asiago cheese? You could say this auto-pilot lunch was inspired. So, I thanked the source of all inspiration and blessings and ate my really excellent cold lunch pizza.

Pssst. I’m sharing my pizza dough recipe with you here today so you can get it in your refrigerator and use it both for this recipe and upcoming ones. This is a big hint. BIG HINT.

Now. Another giveaway! And hoo-doggy it’s a hot one. The generous folks at Smuckers offered to send one of Foodie with Family’s readers a pretty amazing gift basket. And when I say pretty amazing I mean four seriously pretty pink and green striped ice cream REAL (as in not plastic) bowls, an ice cream scoop, some of their new ice cream toppings (Blueberry and Hot Caramel) some of their classic toppings (Hot Fudge), some sweetened condensed milk (Used to make their dead easy 3-ingredient ice cream for which they include the recipe!) and -wait for it- a $75 gift certificate to Cooking.com.

So what does this have to do with a fancy-pants breakfast pizza? What goes better with pizza than a milkshake, I ask you? Not a thing, as far as I’m concerned.  And if I accidentally dolloped some of that caramel sauce into the blender with my ice cream and milk then I might have accidentally really loved it, too. I highly recommend accidentally doing that. Happy, happy day.

What do you need to do to enter this contest? This is one of my patented super complex entries. Leave a comment. Tell me what you like to eat with your milkshakes, what you would do with the $75 gift certificate, what your favourite ice cream topper is (Smuckers or otherwise), about the time you poured Magic Shell over your brother’s head, or what you like on your breakfast pizza. That’s it! Not too shabby for a chance to win all those goodies, eh? The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here on Friday, August 19th.

Our winner is:

TiffH Well here in Oklahoma I love me a Strawberry milkshake with crinkle cut fries from Braum’s Ice Cream. And as far as cooking gift card I would get the ice cream maker I’ve been wanting (cuz I don’t have one) and use it with all that spiffy Smucker’s ice cream toppings and bowls… yeah! Can you overnight me some of that pizza because it looks delicious, and the egg on top genius!

TiffH, email me your mailing address and whatnot and I’ll send that right onto the folks at Smuckers!

Oh, and do me a favour? Since they’re being so generous, show them a little love and head on over to their website. They have some pretty fine dessert recipes posted!

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Fancy-Pants Bacon Jam, Spinach, Egg and Asiago Breakfast Pizza

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

This inspired breakfast pizza is topped with the salty, smoky, meaty, sweet, perfect umami bacony goodness that is bacon jam on pizza crust, spinach (hello, lover), a fresh egg, and a shower of finely grated asiago cheese. While it looks and tastes like a big deal, it's incredibly simple to make.

Ingredients

    Per Pizza:
  • 1 navel-orange sized piece of Semolina Olive Oil Dough (see following recipe) or favourite pizza dough
  • 2 tablespoons Bacon Jam warmed to slightly over room temperature
  • 1/4 cup cooked spinach, squeezed to remove most of the liquid
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated asiago cheese, divided
  • 1 egg, cracked into a shallow bowl or measuring cup
    • Optional for serving:
  • hot sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 475°F with a pizza stone in place (if you have one.)

On a clean, floured surface, roll or press out pizza dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick in the center and slightly thicker around the edges.

Gently spread the bacon jam from the center of the dough to within 1/2-inch of the edges, taking care not to stretch the dough. (Heating the jam ahead of time helps it to spread more easily.)

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the asiago over the bacon jam and scatter the spinach over the top.

Sprinkle semolina or cornmeal over a pizza peel (if using a pizza stone) or a baking sheet (if no stone is available.) Transfer the dough, carefully, to the dusted peel or pan. If using the stone, slide the pizza directly onto the stone, if using the sheet, slide the sheet directly into the center of the oven.

Bake for 4 minutes then open the door of the oven and pour the cracked egg directly into the center of the pizza. This is easiest if the bowl or measuring cup is held right next to the pizza to minimize the egg running.

Bake an additional 8-14 minutes or until the egg is done to your liking. I pulled mine when the whites were firmly set and the yolk was still mostly runny.

Transfer the pizza to a cutting board, sprinkle with the remaining asiago cheese.

Serve hot or cold with hot sauce, if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/08/16/fancy-pants-bacon-jam-spinach-egg-and-asiago-breakfast-pizza-and-a-giveaway/

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No-Knead 10-Day Semolina Olive Oil Pizza Dough

Prep Time: 15 minutes

This is, without a doubt, the best pizza dough I've ever made and eaten. The fact that it is no-knead and incredibly simple to make adds to its already ample charms. It bakes up as a beautifully crisp bottomed, chewy pizza crust but can also be made into pita bread and focaccia. It's like the bass-o-matic of pizza doughs!

Inspired by Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg.

Ingredients

  • 5 1/2 cups room temperature water
  • 3 tablespoons instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (raw or granulated)
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 11 cups (2 pounds, 15 3/4 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups (11 ounces by weight) semolina flour

Instructions

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water in a 12 quart capacity bucket. (This recipe can be halved if you do not have a large enough container.)

Stir in the flour until no dry pockets remain. You do not have to knead it, but I find the easiest way to have it thoroughly mixed is to wet one hand and forearm and use that one to mix it in completely.

Cover lightly (Do not put a lid on tight. Trust me.) and let rest at room temperature until the dough has doubled and collapsed. (Or at least until dough is very, very puffy.) This takes a less than 2 hours in warm weather and more than 2 hours in cool or cold temperatures.

You can use the dough immediately. If you have leftovers, you can store them in the container, lightly covered (again, do not use a tight lid!) for up to 10 days. If you need to store the dough beyond that time, divide into individual pizza sized servings. Freeze in re-sealable plastic bags that have about a teaspoon of olive oil smeared around inside each for up to 3 months.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/08/16/fancy-pants-bacon-jam-spinach-egg-and-asiago-breakfast-pizza-and-a-giveaway/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Breakfast Foods, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , ,

General Tso’s Chicken

August 3, 2011 by 17 Comments

I love chicken. I love Chinese food. I love Chinese chicken dishes. I really, really do.

It’s a matter of garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil.  There’s just something about that combination that makes me weak. The heady, nutty scent of toasted sesame oil with the pungent garlic and spicy ginger and the umami of the soy sauce renders me powerless. When I smell that there’d better be food on the horizon. And quick.

When I first saw this over on Evil Chef Mom, I knew I had to have it that night. Sweet and hot, crispy and tender, garlicky, gingery General Tso’s chicken is a mainstay of Chinese buffets and restaurants, but I knew it would be infinitely better, fresher and healthier at home. Since my husband was at work in the big city,  I texted him saying, “Please pick up boneless, skinless chicken thighs and broccoli. Need them desperately. Love you!”

He came home with bone-in, skin-on drumsticks and peas. Sigh. He meant well. Needless to say, I didn’t get my General Tso’s chicken that night.

The next night, my darling brought me pork chops and salad.

The night after that? Beef to grind for hamburgers and potatoes. I worshipped the idea from afar and waited for the moment I would get to the store by myself.

The next two big shopping trips yielded *GASP* no boneless, skinless chicken thighs because there was an apparent run on them in Amish country. Go figure.

General Tso and I were becoming star-crossed lovers.

Finally, when I went shopping for my birthday meal last week, boneless, skinless chicken thighs were abundant on the shelves and I did a happy dance that resembled Chris Farley’s ‘Tommy Boy’ version of the Flashdance number near the butcher’s counter. He looked at me a little funny, but I didn’t care. General Tso was mine at last.

He was totally worth waiting for. Love always is.

Adapted ever so slightly from and with major thanks to Evil Chef Mom.

 

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General Tso’s Chicken

Sweet and hot, crispy and tender, garlicky, gingery General Tso's chicken is a mainstay of Chinese buffets and restaurants, but you can make it better, fresher and healthier at home!

Ingredients

    For the chicken:
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2" pieces
  • canola, peanut or vegetable oil for frying
    • For the Sauce:
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger root
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1 cup chicken broth or stock
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce
  • 3 tablespoons raw sugar (a.k.a. Demerara or Turbinado)
  • 1 tablespoon peanut, canola or vegetable oil
    • For Serving:
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced
  • Steamed broccoli
  • Fresh, hot cooked white rice

Instructions

Prep your chicken:

In a mixing bowl, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, egg white, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until a thick slurry forms. It will look gummy but smooth.

Add the chicken pieces and stir until all are evenly coated. At first it may appear that it will not come together but it does!

Set aside, covered lightly with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the sauce:

Add the tablespoon of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat.

Stir the garlic and ginger into the oil and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth. Pour into the garlic and ginger, stirring, until thick and shiny. Keep over a low burner partially covered to stay warm.

To fry the chicken:

Heat 1/2-inch of oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided frying pan or skillet over high heat.

When the oil is shimmering, add one piece of chicken at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan.

Cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides**.

Transfer the chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat the process until you've cooked all the chicken.

Slide all the chicken into the prepared sauce and toss to coat. (If desired, add the steamed broccoli to coat with the sauce also.) Increase the heat to medium, stir and cook just until hot all the way through.

Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve immediately over white rice.

**A note: Chicken is a safe food for me. I know that just about anything done to it is going to yield something that is, at the very least, edible. This is especially true of boneless skinless chicken thighs. It's really hard to mess those up! They stay tender and juicy and it's very hard indeed to cook them to the point of chicken jerky. Be sure to cook them through, you definitely want that crisp, deep-brown coating to hold up to the sauce!
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/08/03/general-tsos-chicken/

Filed Under: kid food, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Pizza Black Bean Burgers

July 27, 2011 by 7 Comments

As promised in the last post, today I’m sharing a fun way to use up pizza sauce other than just pizza, not that there’s anything wrong with that…

In the extreme heat we’ve been having lately, my appetite has flagged a little bit. Believe me when I tell you that’s not a normal condition around here. (Referring to both the heat and the lack of appetite.) I haven’t wanted anything heavy or hearty and I surely haven’t wanted to stand around a hot stove or boiling pot of whatever or even, unbelievably, a screaming hot grill for more than ten minutes. That has limited our meal repertoire somewhat…

I saw some gorgiferous spicy black bean burgers floating around the internet a couple of weeks ago and knew some version of them had to make it to my table and soon. I’m a sucker for fried legume patties.  Veggie burgers are a good bet when it’s steamy hot since they cook up very quickly and the prep work leading up to it is minimal and doesn’t require cooking.  The cooking time is mercifully short  (four minutes per side) and you don’t have to stand over the pan to baby sit them. Where veggie burgers really shine, though -aside from the eating-, is after you’re done with the meal. You feel satisfied through and through but you don’t feel like you just ate a side of beef.*

*Mainly because you haven’t. Heh. Veggie burger humour; It’s meaty.

Since there are so many veggie burger recipes on the internet, I figured I should explain exactly why I prefer my version.

  • I like a burger that holds together well while being fried. I am an impatient human and when things start falling apart on me I’m prone to thinking angry thoughts. Angry thoughts while cooking equal stress and who needs more of that?
  • I like the method (introduced to me by Eat, Live, Run) of turning part of the beans into paste and stirring the remaining whole beans in for texture. I like to see the whole beans peeking out at me.
  • While I like to see bits and pieces of bright vegetable colour laced throughout my burgers, I am feeding a family that includes some entrenched members of the anti-visible-veg-contingent. Finely mincing the vegetables in the food processor allows me to add the flavour without adding the fight to the meal. Feel free to chop rather than mince, but I’ll tell you that the pickiest eaters in my house didn’t even flinch. These disappeared like shadows at noon.
  • I love using egg  as a binding agent in my vegetable burgers.  I think they hold together wonderfully in the frying pan and the added protein is a bonus.
  • I have a liberal hand with the bread crumbs. This is a textural issue for me. I don’t like veggie burgers that are mushy or straight-up wet in the center. And again (although I feel like a broken record saying this) they don’t fall apart when you try to flip them in the frying pan.

A note: I prefer my black beans cooked from dry rather than canned, so I used my own cooked beans. If canned beans are what you have on hand, though, they will work very well.

Print
Pizza Black Bean Burgers

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 14 sliders, 8 standard size, or 6 large burgers

Gorgeous deep brown and crunchy on the outside, tender and full of taste, topped with pizza sauce and gooey melted mozzarella, and served on soft buns brushed with olive oil and Italian seasonings, these meat-free Pizza Black Bean Burgers pleased even the most entrenched picky eater in my house.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (or 2 cans) black beans, drained and rinsed well, then drained again
  • 1/2 of a green pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 3 tablespoons roughly chopped onions
  • 1-3 cloves of garlic, according to preference, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons pizza sauce
  • 1 cup (or more) plain breadcrumbs (*See notes below the instructions)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • canola or peanut oil for frying
  • additional pizza sauce, for topping
  • grated mozzarella cheese, for topping
  • soft rolls, for serving
  • Optional:
  • extra virgin olive oil and Italian seasonings to brush on the roll

Instructions

Add the pepper, onion and garlic cloves to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

Put the lid in place and pulse, stopping to remove the lid and scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the ingredients are finely chopped.

Add half of the black beans, Italian seasonings, basil, salt and pizza sauce to the food processor and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the mixture resembles the consistency of guacamole (slightly chunky but a cohesive paste.)

Scrape the bean and vegetable mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in the remaining beans, the egg and breadcrumbs.

Test the consistency of the mixture. You should be able to roll the mixture into a ball and flatten into a patty without it sticking to your hands. If you cannot, add one extra tablespoon of breadcrumbs at a time, stirring and checking the consistency after each addition until it does what it should. The goal is to add enough that the mixture ceases to be sticky but not so much that it becomes crumbly.

Roll balls of the bean mixture according to the size of the burger you'd like: golf ball size for sliders, peach size for standard burgers, navel orange size for mega-burgers.

Place a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and pour in enough oil to cover the bottom by about 1/8-inch.

When the oil is shimmering, flatten each ball into a patty that is about 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick and slide it into the oil. Do this with as many patties as you can comfortably fit into the pan without crowding.

Fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until deep brown and crunchy on the outside.

Transfer the patties to a paper towel lined platter and top immediately with grated mozzarella.

While the mozzarella melts on the hot patties, prepare the buns. They can be served as is, or brushed lightly with olive oil, sprinkled with Italian seasonings and then toasted quickly in the hot pan you used to fry the patties.

To serve:

Put one patty on the bottom half of each bun, dollop warm pizza sauce on the melted cheese and add the top half of the bun.

*I found that in each of the batches I made, I needed significantly different amounts of breadcrumbs to hold the patties together, but I never needed less than 1 cup.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/27/pizza-black-bean-burgers/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dolores’s Egg and Olive Sandwiches

July 13, 2011 by 9 Comments

Fourteen years ago, almost to the day, I discovered I liked two things; egg salad and green olives.* Furthermore, I learned that I liked them combined. This epiphany -after twenty something years of thinking that I despised both things- came at the table of my mother-in-law, Dolores.

* I found egg salad gloppy and rich and green olives too strong and briny. They were both on my relatively short no-go list along with baked macaroni and cheese, and goulash. I know. I’m weird.

Here’s what happened… I was five months pregnant with my first child and ten months married to her youngest son; I was a newborn daughter-in-law and very eager to please. One day, right before my lunch hour at work, I called Dolores to see if she’d like me to pop by so she could inspect my burgeoning belly. She said, “Sure! Come on over! I’ll make sandwiches!”

I slid the aforementioned belly in under her table, sipped at a cup of water and looked at the sandwich and chips on the plate she had put in front of me. EGADS. It was egg salad: my arch nemesis. And horrors! It was chock-a-block crammed with chopped green (eep) olives. There was no way out of this one. I had to eat it and I had to look like I liked it. This was my mother-in-law, and I was determined that she was going to be glad I had married her son. I wasn’t going to wrinkle my nose at that sandwich. I girded my girthly loins (I’m sorry. That wasn’t appetizing was it?), lifted the sandwich and took a bite.

And I loved it.

What?

Yes.

It was outstanding. The briny, salty olives cut through the richness of the mayonnaise that bound the eggs together. Everything I had ever thought I found unappetizing about either of those things ended up perfectly complimenting the other. I tried to play it cool and act like I had always liked egg salad because what kind of dorko doesn’t like egg salad, right? She probably saw right through me when I wept and hugged her after lunch, though.

If you’re not lucky enough to have an egg and olive sandwich making mother-in-law, may I suggest you whip up a batch of this for yourself? It just might change your world a bit…

5.0 from 3 reviews

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Dolores’s Egg and Olive Sandwiches
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer, Lunch, Quick and Easy
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 4
 

The briny, pungent olives cut through the richness of the mayonnaise that bindss the eggs together in this take on the classic egg salad. Serve on soft rolls or bread with a side of salty chips or pretzels!
Ingredients
For the Egg Salad
  • 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
  • 2-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2-4 tablespoons chopped green salad olives with pimientos
  • 2 tablespoons minced sweet onions, preferably Vidalia
  • 1 teaspoon brine from the olives
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard or dill pickle juice
  • ¼ teaspoon celery seed
  • salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
To Serve:
  • 4 soft sandwich rolls or 8 slices of bread
  • Optional: Additional chopped olives for the sandwich.

Instructions
To Prepare the Salad:
  1. Put one egg in the bottom of a mixing bowl and chop roughly with the side of a fork.
  2. Put another egg on top and chop roughly again with the fork. Repeat with remaining eggs until all the eggs are chopped together with pieces no larger than the size of a piece of bubble gum (*see notes).
  3. Stir in the mayonnaise, olives, onions, mustard or pickle juice, celery seed, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust if necessary.
  4. Chill until ready to serve.
  5. Serve cold on soft sandwich rolls with additional olives on top, if desired.

Notes
*Many thanks to Katie who asked me to specify which type of bubble gum. Believe it or not, I meant Dubble Bubble. I’m not joking. Carry on!

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Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Main Dish, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tex Mex Rice Bowls | Frugal Dinners

May 30, 2011 by 6 Comments

There is nothing like the satisfaction that comes from a meal that hits all the right  notes taste-wise, pleases the pickiest eaters in  your house, satisfies your hunger for hours, takes five minutes to throw together, is nutritionally sound and is truly, veritably, and unbelievably inexpensive; And when I say unbelievably inexpensive I mean dirt cheap.

Finding one meal that does this is like finding a new favorite author who is a prolific writer. It’s happy dance party time. It’s all that and a bag of chips. This meal is that meal.

Please allow me to introduce you to Tex Mex Rice Bowls. The “recipe” is just a road map, really. You start with a bowl full of rice. I like mine coloured a vibrant yellow from being cooked with turmeric, but you can go with straight-up white or brown rice if you prefer. Top the rice with whatever you’d put on a taco; cooked shredded or ground beef, pork or chicken, guacamole, refried beans or spicy black bean and corn salad, sourcreamshreddedcheesecandiedjalapenos if you fancy it, top with a fried egg and spoon some of your favorite salsa over everything.

You may have noticed that this dish has the potential for Déjà Food* greatness. Seriously, aside from the rice and the fried egg, every bit of this dish can be composed of leftovers. Of course, if you feel so moved, you can whip up fresh guacamole. From that I would never, ever dissuade you. I’m just pointing out that this dish is a beautiful, filling, delicious way to breathe new life into leftovers. This is certainly better than breathing my breath on you after eating this, but I digress.

*Déjà Food is that glorious state of higher consciousness where you turn leftovers into something as good as or better than the original dish.

I would also like to point out just how picky-pants friendly this is. Start with a bowl of rice and customize. Unless your picky eater won’t touch rice, you’re in a good place with this recipe because they can add as much or as little of the various toppings as they like. Even if they want to swap in ketchup for the salsa *shudder* this should keep them smiling at the table.

There are close to a bajillion ways to go with this dinner, but we like it best like this:

 

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Tex Mex Rice Bowls | Frugal Dinners
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 6
 

Dinner doesn’t get simpler or more satisfying than these bowls of hot rice topped with guacamole, spicy black bean and corn salad, a fried egg, and salsa.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 3¾- 4 cups water (use less for firmer rice, more for softer rice)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2½ cups guacamole
  • 2½ cups black bean salad or refried beans
  • 6 large eggs
  • oil or butter for frying
  • 6 tablespoons salsa

Instructions
  1. Bring the water and turmeric to a boil in a saucepan (with a tight fitting lid) that is at least 2 quarts in size.
  2. When the water is boiling, add the rice and salt, stir once with a fork, and replace the lid.
  3. Reduce the heat to low immediately and cook over the low heat for 12-16 minutes, or until the water is absorbed.(*See notes below for cooking tips.)
  4. When the water is absorbed, fluff the rice with a fork and divide between serving bowls.
  5. Top bowls of rice with about ¼ cup each of the guacamole and bean salad or refried beans.
  6. Heat a little oil or butter (1-3 teaspoons) in a frying pan over medium heat.
  7. Crack 2 eggs into the pan and let them sit, cooking, until done (*See notes for cooking tips.)
  8. Use a spatula to move each egg to a bowl of rice.
  9. Continue cooking eggs until each bowl is topped with one.
  10. Spoon some salsa over the top of each egg and serve immediately.

Notes
Rice Cooking Notes: Do not remove the lid often while checking the rice. It is okay to lift it once or twice toward the end of the cooking time to look as long as you quickly replace it. Also, avoid stirring the rice as that causes it to break and become gummy. Egg Cooking Notes: For a sunny-side up egg, just leave the egg where you put it in the pan until the whites are set all the way through. If the edges begin to curl before the center is set, you can add a teaspoon of water to the pan along with lidding it. This will cause the yellow to look clouded over, but will ensure a nice runny yolk. For an over-easy egg, cook until the white is set and slightly crisped around the edges, but still jelly-like around the yolk. Flip once and cook for no more than 1 minute on the second side. For a hard-cooked fried egg, cook until the yolk is set, flipping once during cooking.

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Filed Under: Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,
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